The first model of atom was proposed by J. J. Thomson in 1898.

According to this model, the positive charge of the atom is uniformly

distributed throughout the volume of the atom and the negatively charged
electrons are embedded in it like seeds in a watermelon. This model was
called plum pudding model of the atom.

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1. It could not explain the origin of several spectral series in
the case of hydrogen and other atoms.

2. It failed to explain the large angle scattering of

𝛼 −particles in Rutherford’s experiment.

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𝑚𝛼 = 4 𝑚𝑝

𝑞𝛼 = 2 𝑞𝑝 = +2𝑒

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The following graph reveals−

1. Most of the 𝛼 −particles pass through the gold foil or suffer

only small deflections.

2. A few 𝛼 − particles , about 1 in 8000, get deflected through

90° or more.

3. Occasionally, an 𝛼 −particle gets rebounded from the gold

foil, suffering a deflection of nearly 180°

graphs of the total number of 𝛼 −particles

scattered at different angles 𝜃.

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Rutherford Concluded the following facts from experiment:
1. As most of the α-particles pass straight through the foil, so most of the
space within atoms must be empty.

atom as a whole is electrically neutral.

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The distance 𝑟0 is called the distance of closest approach.

Z=atomic number, K= Coulomb’s constant = 9 x 109 Nm2 C-2

The radius of a nucleus is of the order of a Fermi, where 1

fermi (fm) =10−15 m.

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The impact parameter is defined as the
perpendicular distance of the velocity vector
of the 𝛼 −particle from the center of the
nucleus, when it is far away from the atom.

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The shape of the trajectory of
the scattered 𝛼 −particles
depends on the impact
parameter and the nature of
the potential field.

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1. An atom consists of a small and massive central core in which the
entire positive charge and almost the whole mass of the atom are
concentrated. This core is called the nucleus.

2. The size of the nucleus (10−15 m) is very small as compared to the

size of the atom 10−10 m.

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3. The nucleus is surrounded by a suitable member of electrons so
that their total negative charge is equal to the total positive charge
on the nucleus and the atom as a whole is electrically neutral.

4. The electrons revolve around the nucleus in various orbits just as

planets revolve around the sun. The centripetal force required for
their revolution is provided by the electrostatic attraction between
the electrons and the nucleus.

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According to electromagnetic theory, an accelerated
charged particle must radiate electromagnetic energy.

 Rutherford’s model cannot explain the stability of an

atom.

 As the electrons spiral inwards, their angular velocities

and frequencies would change continuously, and so
the frequency of emitted light will also change. They
would emit a continuous spectrum instead of the
actually observed line spectrum.

Clearly Rutherford model tells only a part of

the story implying that the classical ideas are
not sufficient to explain the atomic structure.

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Thus the total energy E of the electron in a hydrogen atom is
𝒆𝟐 𝒆𝟐 𝒆𝟐
𝐸 =𝐾+𝑈= − =−
𝟖𝝅𝗌 𝒓 𝟒𝝅𝗌 𝒓 𝟖𝝅𝗌 𝒓
𝟎 𝟎 𝟎

The total energy of the electron is negative. This implies the fact that the electron is
bound to the nucleus. If E were positive, an electron will not follow a closed orbit
around the nucleus.

𝑼
𝑬 = −𝑲 =
𝟐

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It was Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962) who made certain
modifications in this model.

In 1913, Bohr combined classical and early quantum concepts

and gave his theory in the form of three postulates.

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Bohr’s first postulate was that an electron in an atom could revolve in
certain stable orbits without the emission of radiant energy, contrary to the
predictions of electromagnetic theory.

According to this postulate, each atom has certain definite stable states in
which it can exist, and each possible state has definite total energy. These are
called the stationary states of the atom.

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Bohr’s second postulate defines these stable orbits.

This postulate states that the electron revolves around the nucleus only in those
orbits for which the angular momentum is some integral multiple of 𝒉/𝟐𝝅 where h
is the Planck’s constant (= 6.6 × 10–34 𝐽 𝑠). Thus the angular momentum (L) of
the orbiting electron is quantised.

That is
𝑳 = 𝒎𝒗𝒓 = 𝒏𝒉/𝟐𝝅
Where 𝑛 = 1, 2, 3, …

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Bohr’s third postulate incorporated into atomic theory the early
quantum concepts that had been developed by Planck and Einstein.

It states that an electron might make a transition from one of its

specified non-radiating orbits to another of lower energy. When it
does so, a photon is emitted having energy equal to the energy
difference between the initial and final states. The frequency of the
emitted photon is then given by

ℎ𝜈 = 𝐸𝑖 − 𝐸𝑓

where 𝐸𝑖 and 𝐸𝑓 are the energies of the initial and final states and
𝐸𝑖 > 𝐸𝑓

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The radius of innermost orbit of the hydrogen
atom, called Bohr’s radius can be determined by
putting Z=1 & n=1 in the equation

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When an atomic gas or vapour is excited at low pressure, usually
by passing an electric current through it, the emitted radiation has
a spectrum which contains certain specific wavelengths only.

A spectrum of this kind is termed as emission line spectrum and

it consists of bright lines on a dark background.

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The spectrum emitted by atomic hydrogen is shown in Fig.
When white light passes through a gas and we analyse the
transmitted light using a spectrometer we find some dark
lines in the spectrum.

These dark lines correspond precisely to those wavelengths

which were found in the emission line spectrum of the gas.
This is called the absorption spectrum of the material of
the gas.

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It is a diagram in which the energies of
the different stationary states of an
atom are represented by parallel
horizontal lines drawn according to
some suitable energy scale.

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 This theory is applicable only to hydrogen-like single electron atoms and fails
in the case of atoms with two or more electrons.

 It does not explain why only circular orbits should be chosen when elliptical
orbits are also possible.

 As electrons exhibit wave properties also, so orbits of electrons cannot be

exactly defined as in Bohr’s theory.

 Bohr’s theory does not tell anything about the relative intensities of the
various spectral lines. Bohr’s theory predicts only the frequencies of these
lines.

 It does not explain the further splitting of spectral lines in magnetic field
(Zeeman effect) or in an electric field (Stark effect).

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Excitation energy of an atom: The energy required by its electron to jump from the
ground state to any one of the excited states.

𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 = 𝐸2 − 𝐸1 = 10.2 𝑒𝑉

𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 = 𝐸3 − 𝐸1 = 12.09 𝑒𝑉

Ionisation energy: The energy required to knock an electron completely out of the
atom. i.e. the energy required to take an electron from its ground state to the
outermost orbit (𝑛 = ∞)

𝐼𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 = 𝐸∞ − 𝐸1 = 0 − −13.6 = 13.6 𝑒𝑉

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Excitation potential: It is that accelerating potential which gives to a bombarding
electron, sufficient energy to excite the target atom by raising one of its electrons from an
inner to an outer orbit.

𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 = −3.4 − −13.6 = 10.2 𝑉

𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 = −1.51 − −13.6 = 12.09 𝑉

Ionisation potential: The accelerating potential which gives to a bombarding electron,

sufficient energy to ionize the target atom by knocking one of its electrons completely out
of the atom.

𝐼𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 = 0 − −13.6 = 13.6 𝑉

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